One time or onetime?
one time is an adjective meaning “Of or pertaining to a specific period of time in the past, not extending to the…”; onetime is an adjective meaning “Alternative form of one-time (“former; past”)”. one time is written as two words and onetime as one word; they are used differently.
What is the difference between one time and onetime?
| one time | onetime | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | adjective, verb, noun, adverb | adjective |
| Meaning | Of or pertaining to a specific period of time in the past, not extending to the present Occurring or used in a single instance and then never again To shoot (the ball or puck) directly from a teammate's pass | Alternative form of one-time (“former; past”) Alternative form of one-time (“occurring once”) |
| Example | He was the one-time president of the club | A onetime special […] forces officer, he had worked with Albright when she was ambassador to the United Nations and had served on the NSC… |
| Pronunciation | not recorded | not recorded |
| In writing | not counted (the list counts single words) | about once in every 3 million words |
Sources: one time and onetime in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of one time and onetime
one time
- 1
Of or pertaining to a specific period of time in the past, not extending to the present
He was the one-time president of the club
- 2
To shoot (the ball or puck) directly from a teammate's pass
- 3
USslangThe police
- 4
informalUsed to introduce a narrative concerning a past event
- 5
Occurring or used in a single instance and then never again
one-time charge/payment
onetime
- 1
Alternative form of one-time (“former; past”)
A onetime special […] forces officer, he had worked with Albright when she was ambassador to the United Nations and had served on the NSC staff with Clarke
- 2
Alternative form of one-time (“occurring once”)
The additional funds included the FBI’s support of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah (a onetime increase) […]
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, one time or onetime?
one time is a phrase, which the list of single words does not count; onetime about once in every 3 million words.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search one time vs onetime?
“one time vs onetime” is searched about 140 times a month on Google and 10 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“onetime vs one time”, “one time or onetime”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.